Hard-Line Group Blasts Cornyn on Talks to Protect 'Dreamers'

Hard-line group blasts Cornyn on talks to protect 'Dreamers'

By Kevin Diaz Updated 2:46 pm, Tuesday, October 24, 2017

WASHINGTON – Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, emerging as one of the key players in congressional negotiations on an immigration deal to shield Dreamers, came under attack Tuesday from hard-liners opposed to any accommodations for the Senate's Democratic minority.

Cornyn, part of Senate working group on immigration, rankled some conservatives by suggesting that demands for an immediate employment verifications system known as "E-Verify" could scuttle a deal to protect young immigrants brought into the country illegally as children.

"There are large segments of some important sectors, like agriculture, where we need to do E-Verify with immigration reform to make sure that there's an adequate legal workforce," Cornyn told Politico in an interview. "And if we start adding too much stuff to the DACA-border security approach, then we get back into comprehensive immigration reform and nothing happens."

DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program President Donald Trump has vowed to end unless Congress can come up with a legislative fix by next March.

Cornyn is among top Republican leaders who have been discussing ways to protect the young immigrants from deportation while beefing up border security and tightening immigration rules.

Cornyn has long favored an incremental approach to immigration reform, arguing that sweeping bills attempting to address all immigration issues at once have tended to fare poorly in Congress.

That approach, however, came under fire Tuesday from Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government, who blasted Cornyn for "unilaterally taking E-Verify out of the discussion."
"President Trump needs to clearly state that Cornyn's bad deal is no deal at all," Manning said. "DACA is the leverage, not the deal. The top priorities of any immigration legislation need to be building the wall, getting national E-Verify and ending chain migration in addition to bolstered border security and enforcement."

While Manning is not a member of Congress, his group is influential with conservatives in Congress, particularly the House Freedom Caucus, a hard-right faction that could help sink any compromise between the White House and Democrats.

Meanwhile, Democrats and immigration activists oppose any GOP demands to protect Dreamers at the expense of other immigrants living in the country illegally. Those concerns have made Cornyn a target of immigration protesters in Houston.

The immigration talks, still in the initial phase, have followed a reported agreement between Trump and top congressional Democrats last month to find a way to help Dreamers in exchange for tougher border security short of a wall.